Any Lucky Penny
by Kristen Elizabeth
Summary: Heero Yuy always thought he'd have plenty of time to tell Relena Peacecraft that he loved her. He was very wrong.
1. The Tragedy

Disclaimer: Yawn...yes, the usual stuff.  
  
Author's Notes: A new genre for me, a new story for you that's (hopefully) decent. It came into my head and to get it out, I had to start writing it. I have in no way abandoned any of my other stories, in particular "To Dance Beneath..." You have my word of honor on that.   
  
Dedication: To my friends who keep me sane and happy.  
  
****  
  
Any Lucky Penny  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"Heero!"  
  
Her voice always had the power to make him stop in his tracks. No matter what he was doing or where he was going, when Relena Peacecraft called out his name in the special way only she could, Heero Yuy was quite willing to drop everything for whatever it was she wanted.  
  
Unfortunately, he had never been able to let her see that. On that particular day, when he heard her, he didn't even bother to turn around, although he did stop in the middle of the lavish hallway that connected her private office to the rest of the mansion that housed, amongst other things, the Preventer headquarters.   
  
"What?" Heero asked, his back facing her.   
  
He could feel her moving out of her office's doorframe, heading towards him. "Heero," she began again. "Did you get a chance to look at..."  
  
"Yeah," he cut her off. "I got it."  
  
Relena walked around in front of him, forcing his complete attention. "Well...what do you think?"  
  
Heero blinked. The truth was, he had no idea what she was talking about anymore. The lips from which her words poured forth were full, the color of berries. They were distracting. He scowled suddenly. "Mrs. President," he began, using her new, full title. "I don't think that..."  
  
"Oh, come on, Heero. It'll only be a couple of hours. The school merely wants me to come in and talk to the students, to introduce their chapter on the History of the Colonies. This was in the works way before the election. I don't see why I should back out now, just because..."  
  
Suddenly, he had a clear memory of Duo Maxwell's security outline for her trip to a local junior high school. "It's not in an ideal area."  
  
"That's exactly why I have to go, Heero. The kids who go there don't have much to get them motivated. If I can get even one of them excited about their history class..."  
  
Relena continued talking, but Heero could only focus on her face as she spoke. Her eyes sparkled with excitement and enthusiasm; her cheeks were flushed with the slightest tint of pink. And those lips...he would have gone through another war for the chance to crush his mouth to those lips.   
  
The worst part was, the chance was his to take. It always had been. He had just never had the gumption. The balls, as Duo would have put it. Heero swallowed a lump of self-disgust that was stuck in the back of his throat. Even now, he knew how she would react if he were to suddenly kiss her. She had made her interest in him very clear, from the day they had met. And while her tactics had matured over the years into the warm friendship that she showed him now, having learned a lesson he hadn't meant to teach after years of his cold shoulder, he didn't have to be as emotionally sensitive as Quatre Winner to sense that she still loved him.   
  
Regret was the worst thing to choke on, Heero had learned. One day, he vowed, he would get rid of it. He would find a way to let her know, let her see, let her feel beyond a shadow of doubt just how he much he loved her in return.   
  
But today was not going to be that day. Today he was her bodyguard, her silent friend, her admirer from a safe distance. As it stood, that was the only role her life he felt comfortable taking.   
  
"We'll find a way to keep you safe while you're there," he said when she stopped talking.   
  
"I trust you." Relena reached out to touch his cheek. As if she expected him to pull away, as he had almost every other time she had reached for him, she stopped just before her fingers made contact. "Thank you, Heero."   
  
He hadn't meant for it to happen, but somehow when his head dipped to acknowledge her words, her fingers brushed against his skin. Like she had invoked electric sparks, his whole body burned for her in that instant. Just as quickly as the moment had come about, Heero backed away from her. "It's my job."  
  
Relena let her hand fall back to her side. Her smile was genuine, but sad. "I know. But I still appreciate everything you do for me."  
  
"I don't do anything that..."  
  
"Anything that any one of us wouldn't do for you in a heartbeat, Princess." Duo Maxwell appeared around the corner just then, his hands tucked into the pockets of his Preventer uniform as he sauntered up to them. He grinned at the President of the ESUN. "Morning."  
  
"Good morning, Duo." Relena's smile grew brighter. "Heero and I were just discussing the trip to the junior high this afternoon."  
  
Duo extracted one hand to gesture with as he spoke. "All taken care of, Princess. The limo'll pick you up at one-thirty and we've got two Preventer cars to flank it on either side. There's a team down at the school right now setting up metal detectors and scouting things out."   
  
"Thank you so much." Relena rose up on her toes to kiss his cheek. Although the gesture was simply Relena being Relena, and meant probably nothing more, jealousy bubbled up in Heero's chest. It was a hot, acidic emotion, but one that he was fairly familiar with. Every diplomat who escorted her to a party, every political figure who danced with her at formal functions, every Preventer who got a smile in the hallways or a handshake of thanks....Heero resented every single of them. And were he not vastly different from the fifteen year old boy who had crashed on Earth, he might have been tempted to take care of some of the more insistent men in Relena's life.   
  
Right then, Duo fell into that category, despite the fact that he had done nothing to initiate the innocent kiss. There was still pleasure on his features, and as Relena turned to start back for her office, Heero watched Duo's eye line slip down to her well-shaped bottom, displayed modestly, but still displayed in her long, fitted dress-suit skirt.   
  
He snapped his fingers in the braided man's face. "Quit looking."   
  
"Why?" Duo folded his arms. "You're not."  
  
This made Heero pause for a moment. Unable to think of a reply that wouldn't leave his heart open for everyone to see, he immediately changed the subject. "I'll take point today."  
  
"Can't you just say 'I'll be in the limo with her today'?" Duo shook his head, more than amused. "Sheesh...we're escorting her to a public relations stunt, not carrying out a covert operation."  
  
Heero stepped up to his sometimes friend and gave him the patented Stare of Death, as the other man had so aptly named it. "It's not a stunt of any kind. She's helping these kids because she's Relena. No ulterior motives. Got it?"  
  
"Yeah. I know." Duo stared right back, meeting the unspoken challenge. "So...you're in the limo. I'll be at the school, waiting to help her out of it when she arrives."   
  
He had backed into that one. "Fine. You just watch her like a hawk, Maxwell."  
  
"I always do," Duo said a few seconds after Heero stormed off in opposite direction from Relena's office.   
  
****  
  
The empty leather seat that stretched between them felt more like miles than two feet. Relena sat on the far right, her hands neatly folded in her lap, ankles crossed just as parochial school had taught her. On the left, Heero sat like a typical guy, his arms folded over his uniform as he stared out the window.   
  
Relena glanced over at him. "Penny for your thoughts."  
  
He lifted one shoulder. "You'd be paying too much."  
  
"I could just ask you what's on your mind, I suppose." She smiled and gestured to his head of thick, messy locks the color of dark wood. "What's going on in there?"  
  
"Security plan," he said, a sharp edge to the words.  
  
"Oh." Relena tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I won't bother you then."  
  
The valiantly hidden hurt in her voice was more than enough to finally tear his attention away from the landscape that flew by outside. "You're not bothering me." He silently cursed himself. "I mean...it's your limo. You can talk whenever you want."   
  
"I just...I like talking to you," she replied letting her eyes meet his again.   
  
He couldn't stop the question, "Why?"  
  
"I don't need a specific reason, Heero. We've known each other for what...five years now?"  
  
"Six."  
  
"And in all that time, you still haven't figured out that I..." She stopped, pressing her fingers lightly against her lips.   
  
A long moment passed. "I've never been blind."  
  
"But your hands are tied?" Heero broke the heavy stare, dropping his gaze down to his lap. Relena brushed away a single tear that threatened to spill down her cheek and smiled again. "It's all right, you know." His head lifted. "I'm not going anywhere. And I'm a very patient person."  
  
He studied her face for another minute. Her beautiful, honest face. The innocence and sincerity, not to mention the love that he saw was nearly his undoing. He had to quickly look away. "Don't rely on me, Relena."  
  
"You don't get to decide that for me, I'm afraid." She rested her head against the plush seat. "And you owe me a penny."  
  
Heero snuck another glance at her a moment later. Her eyes were closed in a few seconds of blissful sleep that she was allowed in between her crammed schedule. His throat closed up for the umpteenth time that day. He could watch her sleep forever.   
  
He could just watch her. As far as he was concerned, it was all he could do.  
  
****  
  
Heero got out of the limo first, purely to steal the opportunity of helping Relena out of it away from Duo. There was all sorts of commotion around them; it wasn't every day that the President of the ESUN visited this neighborhood. One hand rested on his hip and the semi-automatic that hung from it; his other hand reached back into the car for hers.   
  
Behind him, he could hear Duo snort as he moved to help the other Preventers in controlling the crowd. With a hidden, triumphant smile, Heero waited for the warm touch of her fingers on his.   
  
It never came. There was only pain, blossoming from the center of his chest and radiating out. The entire world became very dark, although he could hear her voice loud and clear, calling to him, but failing to pull him back into her world.  
  
"Heero!!"  
  
****  
  
His eyes opened and instantly shut again when white-hot light crashed into his brain. Finally, when he felt that he could stand it, Heero opened them once again.   
  
There was only white around him. Coming from no particular source, it seemed to bear down upon him in a way that wasn't pleasant or uncomfortable. He put a hand to his chest. The pain was gone. But even more odd...he was all alone.  
  
"Where am I?" Heero asked. His voice did not echo, rather it didn't seem to go anywhere.   
  
"You're in the Midway."   
  
He spun around only to confront the image of a nightmare that still haunted him from time to time. "You...you're dead."  
  
The little girl who had died through his own carelessness so many years earlier looked up at him with wide eyes. "I know. But then..." She tilted her head to one side, blonde curls falling over her little shoulder. "So are you."   
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	2. The Midway

Disclaimer: Same as the hundred-odd chapters on my other forty-odd stories.  
  
Author's Notes: Thanks for the feedback;) I never mean to be hard on Heero; he's my favorite pilot. He even outranks Duo on my list. We always hurt the ones we love.   
  
****  
  
Any Lucky Penny  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
"What?" Heero shook his head. "I'm..."  
  
"Dead. You were shot by a sniper hoping to assassinate the President. I'm sorry to have to tell you, Heero Yuy...but you didn't make it."   
  
The words were so matter-of-fact that Heero took a step backwards. "Relena..."  
  
"Oh, she's fine. Well...safe, anyway." The girl paused. "Would you like to see her?"  
  
"I...Relena..."  
  
"I'll take that as a yes." With her thumb and forefinger pinched together, she drew up a viewing panel out of the air around them as though she were pulling up a projector screen. "Here." A moment later, a picture materialized.   
  
Heero moved forward. It was Relena, dressed in all black and seated before an open grave. A handkerchief was pressed to her mouth as she stared at the shiny coffin suspended over the deep, freshly dug hole. Her slender shoulders shook and there were horrible dark circles underneath her eyes.   
  
"She blames herself," the girl spoke up. "She hasn't slept or eaten since it happened."  
  
His chest began to hurt again. "How long have...has it been since..."  
  
"Four days."  
  
"Four days," he repeated. "I don't....I can't believe it!" He turned away from the image of Relena. "I can't be dead. I have to protect her!"  
  
The girl gave him a long look. "There are others who can do that. She is constantly surrounded by people now. Besides...they did catch the man who did this. Don't worry about Relena."  
  
"I don't understand," Heero began again, his voice taking on a note of desperation.   
  
"All right, let me try to explain it all again." Speaking well beyond her years, the girl continued, "Four days ago you were shot straight through the heart in a fouled assassination attempt on Relena's life. It was relatively painless and you died almost instantly, although she made them try for nearly an hour to revive you."  
  
He pressed a hand to the center of his torso. "It wasn't painless..."  
  
"It wasn't for me either." She smiled. "But forgetting that for the moment, you are dead."  
  
"I'm dead..." The reality was slow to sink in, but there seemed no other explanation for his current circumstances. "I'm dead."   
  
The little girl nodded once. "And now you're here."  
  
His head throbbed. "Where's here?"  
  
"The Midway," the girl replied.   
  
"Heaven?" he asked, doubtfully. When she shook her head, he tried again. "Hell?"  
  
"It's neither and both."  
  
Heero rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. "Well, that clears it up for me."  
  
"The Midway is where we go when we leave our life too soon," she explained.   
  
"Don't we all die when we're supposed to?"  
  
"Yes." She smiled again. "And no. When I say too soon, I mean when we die with unfinished business. You have died too soon, Heero Yuy. And I'm here to help you."  
  
Heero blinked several times. "Unfinished..." Then he stopped cold. "Relena." The girl nodded. "But how can I....what do I need to do to..."   
  
"Unless you want to stay here alone forever..." She gestured to the expanse of white emptiness. "You have to finish your business."  
  
He licked his lower lip and after a moment, turned back to the viewing panel. The scene had changed; time moved differently in the Midway, apparently. It was now night, and Relena was curled up in her bed, clutching her sheets up to her chin, quaking in the throes of a nightmare. "Relena!" he called out to her image. "I'm here, Relena. Can you hear me?"  
  
"Of course she can't," the girl scolded. "She's on Earth; we're in the Midway."  
  
"Then..." Heero balled up his fists. "I don't understand any of this. I'm not even sure I really believe it. You said you were sent to help me?" She nodded again. "Then quit talking in riddles and help me."  
  
After studying him for a minute, the girl lifted her chin. "I can see why you need this. You loved her very much, didn't you?" He looked away. "And you never told her."   
  
"I was going to," Heero said quietly. "I just needed...more time."  
  
"Time is something you really don't have anymore," she stated without any remorse. "Or...you shouldn't, at least."  
  
He frowned. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
"I wasn't sent here to smooth your transition into the afterlife, Heero Yuy." The little girl moved closer to him. "I've come here to offer you this one last chance to escape the Midway."   
  
"More riddles," Heero sighed.   
  
The girl gave him a wry smile. "I'll state it quite plainly then. There is a way for you to return to Earth and finish your business." His eyes lit up. "I assume you'll be taking it then?"  
  
"I need to tell Relena..." He paused, trying to keep his sudden excitement in check. "I need to hold her and tell her....everything." His gaze turned back to the image of her. She was waking up now and the morning tears that coursed down her cheeks were painful to watch. Knowing that he would soon be able to wipe them away...Heero had to smile.  
  
After another moment, the girl continued. "There is a catch."  
  
His smile faltered. "Whatever it is...I can deal with it."  
  
"Are you sure?" When he nodded, she bobbed her own head. "Very well then."   
  
A long moment passed. On the screen, Relena managed to pull herself out of bed. The gentleman in Heero forced his gaze away when she began to undress. "Well...what's the catch?" he demanded.   
  
The girl considered him for a second. "Returning to Earth and being able to walk amongst the living is not as simple as I might have made it sound." She hesitated. "You will need a host."  
  
"A host?"   
  
"A body," she clarified. "A living human being who is willing to give up their physical form to your spirit."   
  
Heero thought about this for a moment. "But...if I'm in their body, how will Relena know that I'm...."  
  
"She won't." The silence that followed was thick and cold. "I'm not an angel, Heero Yuy. I'm here because you killed me. Accidently, but I'm dead just the same. I have been for a very long time. And because you killed me, it's my job...and somewhat of my entitlement...to be here with you during this time. As you will get to do for your killer someday."   
  
His mind clouded with confusion, Heero pressed further. "She'll only see..."  
  
"The host. Whoever that might be. This is your challenge. To do what you should have done while you were alive in a body other than your own. Neither heaven, nor hell. The Midway."   
  
"So...this is a punishment."   
  
"Only if you choose to think of it like that." The girl's lips curled up pleasantly. "You'll have two Earth days."  
  
"Two days?! That's not...it's not enough time! Not if she can't see that it's me! And it's not..." His voice gave way for an extended beat. "It's not enough time with her."  
  
The little girl clasped her hands together. "You were given six years with her, Heero Yuy. It is no one's fault but your own that now you have only two days to do what could have easily been done then." She looked back at the screen. Relena was dressed now and being escorted by a team of no less than four Preventers out the door of her mansion and into her limousine. "Choose your host wisely. He or she is your last chance."   
  
Heero watched Relena in the backseat of her limo. Her eyes were closed, but she was not sleeping. It looked like it was too much of an effort for her to even keep them open. "I can't let her blame herself anymore," he said out loud. His head swung back to the little girl. "Tell me what I need to do to contact a host."   
  
"You've chosen one then?"  
  
He nodded. "I just hope he's feeling generous."  
  
****  
  
"Aww...fuck." Bending over at the waist as he sat on the edge of his horribly rumpled bed, Duo Maxwell held his head between his hands to keep his brains from exploding. "What the fuck did I drink last night?"  
  
Shots, he remembered a moment later. He and Quatre Winner, Trowa Barton and Chang Wufei had gone out after Heero's funeral and honored their fallen comrade with a 21 shot salute. Five shots each with one left standing for Heero. And, he regretfully recalled, he had taken most of Quatre's.   
  
The details were fuzzy, but the reality was not. Heero was dead. And at the funeral, Lady Une had approached him and asked him to take over Heero's job. Head bodyguard for the ESUN President, Relena Peacecraft. He had not accepted or declined the offer. Last night had been about remembering. Today was a good enough day to start moving on.   
  
Running a hand down his stubbled face, Duo attempted standing. The long, unbraided strands of his hair fell over his shoulders. He couldn't do it until the world stopped spinning.   
  
"You never could hold your liquor."   
  
His head shot up. The voice, so low and even, with just the sharpest tint of insult, no longer belonged in the world. It had been removed by a single sniper bullet. But as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes, Duo had to adjust every piece of that logic. Because in the corner of the room, Heero Yuy stood, dressed in his Preventer uniform, watching his hangover without sympathy.  
  
"What...the fuck."   
  
It was not a question, but Heero answered just the same. "No, you're not crazy. Not anymore than normal, that is. It's me."  
  
"Shit." Duo shook his head. "Look, I know you didn't really like me. But why'd you have to come back just to haunt me?"   
  
"This will surprise you, Maxwell. But my being here has very little to do with you."   
  
After a moment of struggling, Duo rose to his feet and managed to stay there. "When I sober up all the way, are you still gonna be here?"  
  
"Yes." Heero stepped forwards. He didn't even appear like a ghost, or at least not how Duo had always envisioned a ghost. He seemed fairly solid with his normal coloring. Somehow, Duo imagined he would have had an easier time accepting everything had he been able to see through his old friend. "I need you to do something for me."  
  
Duo frowned. "What?"  
  
Heero replied just as he would have when he was alive: straight-faced and serious. "I need to borrow your body for two days."   
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


	3. The Choice

Disclaimer: Yes, there is one.  
  
Author's Notes: Yes, there are some. Thanks for the very nice feedback;) I hope you keep reading and enjoying. As far as reviews though, I am so flattered that people care about the status of my other stories. But I have AIM, I have an email address...those would be the places to inquire after any other stories. I guess I was hoping that reviews could be any comments or criticisms about this story in particular. Again, thank you;)  
  
****  
  
Any Lucky Penny  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
The coffee was instant, grainy and watery, but it was caffeine and Duo sucked it down like mother's milk as Heero recounted everything that had happened to him since his death. With each sip, Duo half-expected the ghost...apparation...whatever Heero was now, to begin fading. But when he had downed two mugs of the strong sludge and Heero was still standing in his tiny kitchen, talking to him about the Midway and needing a host, Duo came to a sudden revelation.   
  
"Dude...you're dead!"  
  
Heero blinked, then scowled. "How did you ever even learn to pilot a Gundam?"  
  
"I watched you get buried yesterday." He abandoned his mug in the sink that already overflowed with dirty dishes. "You can't be here, talking like nothing happened."   
  
"Have you been listening to a word I've been saying?" Heero's voice rose. "I *am* dead. It's not exactly news to me. I've only been allowed to come back like this because I..." He ground the words out as if they were painful. "...because I need...your help."  
  
Duo shook his head. "I don't believe you. You didn't need my help when you were alive. Why do you need it now that you're dead?"  
  
A few minutes passed before Heero spoke again. "I have to talk to Relena."  
  
"So, talk to her." He lifted his shoulders. "Just don't appear in her room without warning though. I mean...she's kind of...fragile right now. Seeing you like this...it might be too much for her."  
  
"It doesn't work that way," Heero replied. "I can't say that I really know why, just that this is my challenge. I have things to resolve, but I can only do it in a living person's body."  
  
Duo coughed suddenly. "Wait! So when you said you wanted to borrow my body for two days....you were really serious and not just trying to spice up the after-life with a little bit of bad humor?"  
  
"Trust me, were there any other way..." He didn't need to finish the thought. "What do you say?"  
  
"What do I say?? Heero...man, this isn't like you're asking to borrow my belt. Or even my car. You want to borrow my body. For two days!!"   
  
Heero sighed. "I realize that it's a lot to ask. But I don't have a lot of time here..." He gestured to this body. "In this form. If you could speed up your decision process..."  
  
"You know, I'm taking a lot on faith here." Duo reached into a cabinet and pulled out a box of cereal which he dug into with one hand. "Say that I believe you, number one. Then I agree to let you do this." His next words were spoken around a mouthful of Captain Crunch. "What happens to me for two days? Do I get to live it up in Heaven in your body?"  
  
"She explained it to me...after I chose you," Heero said, hesitant. "You wouldn't be going anywhere, exactly."  
  
Duo swallowed. "Who's 'she'? And what do you mean by that?"  
  
"While I'm in your body...you're there, too. You'd be conscious of everything. You just won't be in control anymore."  
  
"Oh! But you will?" He pulled out another fistful of cereal, unable to hide his sarcasm. "You...in charge of my body, while I'm just riding in the backseat, looking on? Damn..." Duo popped a few pieces into his mouth. "This is just about the craziest shit I've ever heard."  
  
Heero scratched his forehead with as much patience as he could muster. "It's not going to be easy or in anyway fun for either of us. I mean, do you really think I ever thought I'd be spending my afterlife like this? In..." He gestured to Duo's bare chest, tangled hair and big feet. "...that?"  
  
"Hey!" Duo crunched down on his breakfast, indignantly. "There's nothin' wrong with my body! Chicks love me!! Hilde..." He stopped. "Well, okay, bad example. But that had nothing to do with my body, man."  
  
"Look." Heero reached out to knock the box from his grip. But as though he weren't there at all, his hand slid through the cardboard, making no impact on it whatsoever. A long moment passed as Heero stared at his fingers. Duo even stopped chewing. Finally, Heero spoke. "I need your help."  
  
The other man drew in a long breath. "Just what business could you have left undone?"  
  
****  
  
Relena stared out the window of her spacious office. Just beyond the bulletproof glass, a light rain drenched the countryside. Like the heavens were weeping along with her.  
  
She reached up one hand to brush away an impending tear. "Heero," she found herself whispering. "You weren't supposed to leave me. You were supposed to..." Relena closed her eyes, but it was too late. A flood of tears followed, hot and stinging.   
  
Bent over in her plush leather chair, she let them flow without interruption. It was silly, part of her scolded herself. Heero himself had told her not to rely on him. It was the last thing he had said to her, in fact. It wasn't as though he had promised her a future of roses and domesticity and would now not be able to deliver it.   
  
He had never promised anything, except his loyalty as her bodyguard. There had been no assurances of good things to come, only years of formality and withdrawal. Still, that hadn't stopped Relena from dreaming. They'd had everything in those dreams, not the least of which were long, passionate nights together.   
  
Never being able to see him again, even if only in passing in the halls was pain like she had never experienced. But knowing that someone else would wind up being her first lover, a honor she had wanted to bestow on him and him alone, was a different sort of pain. And one that might never fade.  
  
Relena lifted her head, her cheeks streaked and wet with her misery. "Wherever you are, Heero, if you can hear me...I hope you're...happy." She turned her gaze up towards the ceiling and the heavens beyond. "I miss you so much." Her voice resolute, she continued. "I always, always will. No one can ever replace you in my heart. I swear."  
  
****  
  
"I'm sorry, man. I can't do it."  
  
Heero blinked once and then twice. "What?"   
  
"Look, it's not that I don't wanna help you. I mean, you've done so much for me. You've stolen parts from my Deathscythe, forced me out the window of a forty-story building, punched me when you..."  
  
"Make your point, Maxwell."  
  
Duo ran a hand through his bangs. "I can't do it...'cause of Relena."  
  
"What does that mean?" Heero asked, confused.  
  
"You really are the blindest fuckhead I've ever known." Shaking his head, Duo walked out into the living room of his tiny apartment and plopped into a chair that had seen better days before the war. "You know...while you were coolin' your heels, bidin' your time, whatever...some of us would have given body parts to be with the Princess."   
  
Heero stopped short in the kitchen doorframe. "You..."  
  
"She only had eyes for you, man. Still does. Probably always will." He rubbed at an aching muscle in his arm; it could only be from Trowa and Wufei dragging him home the night before.   
  
"You...love Relena."  
  
Duo rotated his bare arm. "Love is a pretty strong word. I'm just saying...the chance to see where something could've gone would've been nice. But pretty much just by you bein' there, it was never gonna happen. Thanks a lot for that, man."  
  
"You..." Heero's fists clenched as he borrowed a word from Duo's colorful vocabulary. "...fuckhead."  
  
"What are you bitching about?" Duo stood up again, ignoring the continuing ache. "The fact that I don't really feel like lending you my body so you can somehow make it clear to Relena that you loved her, always loved her and always will? And the whole time, I'd get to watch! Double fun for Duo!!" Sarcasm oozed from his very pores. "Count me out, Yuy. Find someone else to let you live out your penitance."   
  
Heero spoke between his teeth. "Do you really think I didn't run through every other possibility before I decided to ask you?"  
  
"Why was I the lucky one? Were you looking to get in one last little jab at me?"  
  
"You're the only person I tru...." He took a breath although he needed no oxygen. "You're one of only a few people who can get Relena to open up. I need that right away, or else I'll never get to tell her...everything. And then I'll be stuck in this fucking purgatory that I never even believed in for the rest of eternity!! All right?"  
  
Duo shook his head slowly. "Death kinda changes people, doesn't it? I can't ever remember you saying this much at one time."   
  
"Two days, Duo. Starting tomorrow morning. Will you do this for me?"   
  
He turned his head away for a moment as he thought. The mention of purgatory had gotten to him; too many childhood years in the care of the Catholic Church had instilled a healthy fear of the transient afterlife in which Heero seemed caught. Despite having not stepped foot in a sanctuary in over ten years, Duo couldn't shake the instinct to help his friend out of limbo.   
  
Even if it meant doing this...sharing his body for two days, watching Heero woo Relena with his own voice, and being unable to do anything about whatever might happen from there.   
  
With a sigh, he looked back at the apparition. "Fine. But there's one condition." Heero tried to hide his smile with a nod, indicating for him to go ahead. "You do anything to my hair in the next two days and I will..." He looked around, wildly thinking. "I'll...I'll do...something to you. I swear to God! And it'll be bad!!"  
  
"As much fun as it would be for me to shave you bald, your hair is going to be the least of my concerns, Maxwell."   
  
During Duo's rant about gratitude that followed, Heero closed his eyes. *I have two days to make up six years,* he said to himself. *I can't decide if this is a punishment, an opportunity...* He looked at Duo. *Or just plain hell.*  
  
****  
  
To Be Continued 


End file.
